Month: July 2016

Cognitive scientist Daniel Dennet hypothesizes that, by some mutation, a human being could be born that does not have “consciousness” but nevertheless acts exactly like a human being. This sort of animal is called a “zombie” in thought experiments in the philosophy of mind. This new animal would reproduce just as any other human and eventually there would be more of these zombies, because natural selection would favor them, since their design is a bit simpler. Eventually all “humans” would die out. So therefore, it is most likely that human beings (as we see them today) are actually zombies, who nevertheless insist they are conscious. It is impossible to know whether we are all zombies or not. Even if we are all zombies, we would refuse to believe it. And a small minority that were not zombies would probably think they were too, through social pressure and fear.